Sampling from journals, diaries and letters, Mr. Urban gives us a chance to share the pain -- in effect, to campaign with the generals, captains, lieutenants and teenage "pipsqueak" subalterns of the 23rd, and with the rough-and-tumble privates.

I honestly don't know if the word "pipsqueak" appears therein, but this lil' pet's given name is Elvis -- which does appear in the penultimate chapter -- but nowadays, we tend to call him that only when he's being reprimanded.

This was so whether the president was willing the downfall of a Democratic "pipsqueak," criticizing his own vice president for playing tennis or pressing South Vietnam to accept a peace deal that would leave it open to the communist takeover that followed.

In the lingo from my neck of the woods: someone who is not only small and puny but also annoying and perhaps a little big for the proverbial boots. Often used in the tautological playground insult: "little pipsqueak."